City Comptroller John C. Liu today announced a plan to reform the City’s unfair Personal Income Tax. Comptroller Liu’s “NYC Tax Relief Proposal” would cut local income taxes for 99% of New Yorkers and raise an additional $250 million to $1 billion in revenue for the City’s budget.
“It
makes little sense that a family with an income of $50,000 pays nearly
the same tax rate as a family that makes $1,000,000,” Comptroller Liu
said. “New
Yorkers are willing to pay fair taxes and this proposal makes the
City’s rates truly progressive, as they were always intended. Overall,
it carries the added benefit of increased resources to help close budget
deficits that loom in the near future.”
Currently,
New York City’s local effective tax rates are relatively flat. For
example, a family that earns $50,000 pays a tax
rate of 3.3%, while a family that earns $1,000,000 pays a rate of 3.7%.
Under Comptroller Liu’s Tax Relief Proposal all joint filers earning
less than $500,000 per year and single filers earning less than $200,000
would pay a lower local NYC income tax rate
than they do now.
According
to the Mayor’s recently-unveiled Executive Budget forecasts, the City
now faces multi-billion budget shortfalls into
the foreseeable future. Specifically, the Mayor’s Office of Management
& Budget is predicting gaps of $3.04 billion for FY 2014, $3.68
billion for FY 2015, and $3.15 billion for FY 2016.
The
progressive local tax rates proposed by Comptroller Liu would increase
revenue to the City by requiring those in the highest
income brackets, joint filers earning more than $500,000, to pay their
fair share. When applied to previous years, the proposed tax rates
increased revenue by an average of $452 million per year.
Local
income tax collections would increase by about 6 percent under
Comptroller Liu’s proposal through an equitable tax structure
that ensures more New Yorkers have a chance to enjoy the City’s ongoing
economic recovery.
“The NYC Tax Relief Proposal is intended to promote shared prosperity so that the benefits of economic recovery are spread to
the 99% more evenly than they were the last time around,” Comptroller Liu said.
A Fact Sheet on Comptroller Liu’s Tax Relief Proposal is available here:
http://www.comptroller.nyc. gov/
Background
Last
month, the Comptroller’s Office released a report that details the
income disparity in New York City. The study found that
the top 1% of income tax filers receive one-third of all City personal
income, a share that is almost twice the national average. The income
gap is further highlighted by the concentration of income among the very
wealthiest. The most affluent 15,000 New York
City households (the top 0.5% of filers) took in 26.7% of the City’s
income. The top 2,000 households (the top 0.05% of filers) accounted
for 18.9% of all income reported in the City. The report, “Income
Inequality in New York City,” is available for download
here:
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1 comment:
This was a great read, I did not know about this relief and reform. I came across your blog while I was online reading articles on tax debt relief, I'm happy I did because your whole blog is filled with interesting and helpful information. Thank you for sharing this with us.
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